Sounds, seats & skills

All over our house there is evidence of little ones growing up. First we have new sounds… Eleanor has started to laugh! Like Luke as a baby, it sounds something like a cross between a cough, a growl, and a drawn-out baby coo, but this time, as experienced parents, we’re able to identify it as a laugh much sooner. We love to coax it out of her with our most entertaining faces and tickles!

You can also hear the new sound of Luke identifying letters. My Mom says that I learned to read from my speak ‘n spell toy and Luke seems to be following the same path. His Fisher Price laptop teaches him letters much more effectively than I do, and it’s so cute to hear him mimic it. When he sees the letter ‘L’ for example, he says: “L, lion, laaaa!”

We also have new ‘furniture’. There’s Ellabella’s bumbo! (click here for video)

She loves the new upright vantage point and seems fairly stable and relaxed inside. Don’t you want to kiss those little toes!?!

And we also have this:

A big boy bed for Luke! He loves it, well playing in it that is. The big boy bed thrill seems to supercharge his already impressive bedtime resistance. Despite our best attempts, he usually can’t fall asleep in it until around 10 o’clock! We’re hoping the novelty wears off soon.

We deferred a lot of transitions for Luke over the past six months, not wanting to do them right before/after the new baby adjustment or while we had guests, and as a result a lot of those changes are feeling urgent right now. A few weeks ago we finally got him to completely give up bottles and we just transitioned to having him sit in a chair for time-out (since his time-out pen no longer fits in his room). But the challenge of getting Luke and Eleanor ready to sleep together in the same room can feel a little overwhelming. They each have their own sleep issues and sometimes I wonder if it’s possible to mellow those enough so that they can sleep in the same room. Then I start to think, maybe it would just be easier to buy a bigger house instead!?! Erik doesn’t like to hear that and I don’t really want to move either, and so slowly progress is being made on their sleeping skills.

When I step back from our sleeping conundrum, it’s clear that the euphoric milestones far outweigh the embattled ones. Right now Luke and Erik are at an open house for Lil’ Kickers (a toddler soccer class) and Erik just called to say that Luke is having a terrific time. I can hardly wait to see their excited faces when they come home.

It’s also thrilling (and a little terrifying!) to see Luke’s growing mastery of his balance bike as he cruises down our driveway and over the bump where it meets the road. Here’s a link to a few videos of his early runs. Go Luke, go!!! (but PLEASE don’t fall badly, Mommy gets a little hysterical when she sees precious little people get serious injuries!)